The suit, filed by the National Association of the Deaf, alleged that Harvard's website and online courses were not as inclusive of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals as they should be. The organization said that the closed captions were missing or inaccurately transcribed, and that the institution violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.

The settlement stipulates that Harvard must provide captions for content existing up to January 2019 and offer captions for events that are streamed live online. The settlement only applies to content the university creates itself.

Harvard tried to dismiss the suit in 2016, but the judge rejected this attempt.